Category Archives: Antakya – Turkey

Leban – Antakya

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Leban is the place to eat and drink in Antakya. Being the first and the best humus maker of Antakya, Semir Yoğurtçu and his family, a neighbourhood headman, opened this big restaurant, actually a very old Antioch house just across his very old but true gem mini humus and bakla place.

We were sent to the top floor, local people and tourists around us, the waiters running up and down the stairs,  carrying big trays of food.

We ordered almost all the mezes on the menu and of course rakı. The ones that are outstanding were cevizli biber, humus, zeytin salatası, zahter salatası, abugannuş, patlıcan yoğurtlama, I think everything… The place is famous for its humus, I have to agree, it is the best I had in town. The humus is topped with home made pickles, tomato, pepper flakes and olive oil.  But all the other mezes we ate, they are far more better than any other place in town.

Cevizli biber, walnuts with pepper, made from dried hot chilies soaked in water and pounded with walnuts, spices added, finished with tahin. The taste is robust, hot, nutty, rich and genius!

Zahter, is literally a kind of a thyme mostly grows on the outskirts of Antakya and zahter meaning thyme salad, filled with green onions, tomato, parsley, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and zahter itself, giving the salad a kinky flavor. It is very freshening after cevizli biber. Zeytin salatası, meaning olive salad made from the regional brine olives, spring onions, parsley, olive oil.

Prepare to eat pide, lots of it!

When we thought we could not eat any more, or could not get any better, the chicken amazes us with the marinated, soft, juicy taste. Yummy chicken thigh pieces skewered and grilled on the charcoal BBQ. We are in food heaven.

Sitting at the top floor, we were surrounded with beautiful view of Antakya, the rooftops, the mountains, not to mention we were facing the garden and the bell tower of the most peaceful church I have ever seen and been to, as the sun set down so we had the city in our hands, sharing table with the loved ones and enjoying the feast.

Life is good, even better when you are in Antakya and dining at Leban.

Address: Gazipaşa Cad. No:6, Antakya

Phone: (326) 213 4255

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Çınaraltı – Antakya

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Künefe is made with kadayıf, butter, special unsalted cheese and syrup made from water and sugar. It is a very simple dessert, yet it is hard to maintain this simplicity.

Yusuf Usta started his small künefe shop, because he wanted to eat a decent künefe in the land of künefe! Simple as künefe, right?

He makes künefe in a big copper tray, letting it cook on the ember, slowly, serenely. Starts by tearing the kadayıf by hand, spreads in on the big tray, then top it with cheese, then more kadayıf, he presses it down gently and put it on the small barbecue. He continuously turns the tray, waiting for kunefe cook its way. When one side is done, he tosses the big künefe in the air! Voila!

After both sides are golden and the cheese is melted, he serves you a portion, pour over the syrup on you plate, hands over to you.

It is the taste that counts, the respect to what he does and the pureness of the ingredients.

Address: Ayakkabıcılar Çarşısı, Pazar Sk. No:2, Antakya

Istanbulfood maps: Because of the Google issues we are facing in Turkey, for a short period I will not be able to map the locations. Just hang on…

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Sultan Sofrası – Antakya

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If you want to eat local food of Antakya, cooked delicately,deliciously and properly, a must stop is Sultan Sofrası. Metin Tansal is a very demanding boss checking if everything is in order, you may see him in the kitchen or anywhere showing working like his staff. Osman Bey is working like a family member, keeps the restaurant intact and helps the family to run the business. Nowadays the beautiful young lady Meltem Tansal is growing into the business and I saw that sparkle in her eyes, made me remember the time I started working, just out of school.

We began our feast with yoğurt aşı, a soup made of a special yoğurt, oruk and chickpeas. Then followed oruk, which is içli köfte. Then came hummus, cevizli biber. Then kaytaz böreği, ıspanaklı börek. Never stopped, almost…

Firik was out of this world, firik is a kind of cracked wheat, bulgur, wheat is harvested and burnt just before it is completely mature so it leaves a smoky flavor in your mouth a true delicacy. Aşur is boiled wheat, chickpeas and meat all combined together and beaten down with wooden spoon, to a mastic kind paste, finished with butter, cumin, walnuts. Aşur is a very laborious dish, should be prepared by the true usta, like this one.

Mumbar, lamb intestines, stuffed with rice, meat and spices so tasty. Kağıt kebap was presented in a lavaş, preparation is again not easy for this unique meat dish, the meat is minced by zırk, a special knife, with herbs and spices then pressed on a piece of parchment paper, cooked in stone oven, you eat it with hand, tearing little pieces and wrapping in the lavaş. The taste is garlicky, peppery, meaty, yet you taste them all one by one.

After all these dishes we were so full, but you are in Antakya, you dine like the royal family all put together, and always offered with more delicious things. So there comes the mini dessert plate full of regional tastes like, zeytin tatlısı, kireçte kabak and ceviz tatlısı.

Can not tell enough, how we devoured every bite, how pleasant our lunch was, how kind Sultan Sofrası Family is… It is a safe place far from home, definitely!

Address: Istiklal Caddesi, No: 20/A, Antakya

Phone: (326) 213 8759

Service hours: Monday-Saturday around 11:00 – 21.30, closed on Sunday.

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Food Photo – Katıklı

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In Antakya katıklı or katıklı ekmek is an open face bread, aka pide, spread with the home made mixture of cheese, spices, pepper paste, olive oil, zahter. Every home has a different spread, some with more cheese, some with more pepper paste, but most basically the ingredients are the same, only the amounts change.  They send this mixture to bakers, fırın, the baker does his magic and there you have the katıklı ekmek. By the way, it is also called as biberli ekmek.

This one is the baker’s recipe.

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Affan Kahvesi – Antakya

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Hidden and lost. Forgotten.

Peaceful and relaxing.

Old floor tiles tell so much. Tranquility covers the place. All over again.

We passed a lot of our time here, either chatting with the lovely owner Züveyr Abi or his sincere and cheerful son Onur,  or sipping coffee, or doing nothing, well, finding our zen… But most of the times, what ever we did, we had Haytalı with it. It is like us and Haytalı.

Affan Kahvesi is the place to eat Haytalı in Antakya.

Haytalı is one of Antakya tastes, a dessert  cools you down and makes you happy. A regulator of inner peace…

Haytalı has three layers of taste, at the bottom a pudding with a little sugar, middle scoops of vanilla ice cream, home made with a little salep, then topped with home made ice cream finished with the vivid color of a syrup made with gülab, rose water. The spoon is custom made, the taste is unique. When you spoon through layers, you find your safe some time else. Like the one colorful thing in a black and white era.

A naive, full, happy time.

Address: Kurtuluş  Caddesi No.42, Antakya

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Çayırcı – Antakya

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Antakya is a heaven of tastes and if you are a local and have a food hunch like me, it even tastes better!

Çayırcı Bakla and hummus is one of the many to taste. You have to go there in the morning and forget about the lunch you are planning, because you are not going to get hungry after eating bakla.

Bakla and water, put in a big copper jar, then embed it in ash, at a hamam. It cooks slowly about 16 hours. Then these big jars brought back to the shop. It cooks becoming thick and velvety.

Order one “bakla”, then watch the  preparation. Cloves of garlic some salt put into the small stainless steel plates and while they pound the garlic with a pestle some cooked bakla added, pounding continues, then some lemon juice added. After all these pounding, the bakla becomes a paste. Finished with glug of olive oil, some cumin, pepper flakes.

The taste is simple yet vigorous, smooth but kicking… You dip your pide in it, or spread bakla over the pide or spoon it. Accompanied with home made pickles, taking the oily hammer effect out off you and leaving your tummy intact. They also have hummus, which is equally good!

The locals call it “beton”, literally meaning concrete, because you feel like you have eaten a pile of concrete and won’t get hungry again, ever!

Address : Uzun Çarşı, Ayakkabıcılar Çarşısı, Pazar sk., Antakya

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Abdo Döner – Antakya

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At Abdo,the dürüm’s taste is zingy, meaty, peppery and the lavaş is crunchy… It is different then any other you had, making you addicted.

The dürüm – wrap – is prepared different then the other cities. First the lavaş is dipped in to the oil in the tray, under the döner. Then heated by holding against döner’s fire. Then the lavaş is spreaded with hot pepper paste, heated again holding it against the döner’s fire, which during this process turns the peppery lavaş into a crunchy yummy one, then it is topped with zerzevat, consisting of onion and parsley rubbed with pepper flakes, layered on top the slices of döner and finished with a tomato sauce, rolled and wrapped and voila! Ready to be devoured!

It is not animal fat, it is vegetable oil that is rubbed the lavaş with, the reason is they use leaner meat than normal döner supposed to be, so a they use vegetable oil to spread on the lavaş. The meat half mincemeat, half cutlets of meat all veal, topped layer by layer the meat slices holding the mincemeat intact.

Antakyalılar, locals of Antakya, is obsessed about their döner, that is why!

Address: Hürriyet Cad. No:19, Antakya, Turkey

Phone: (326) 212 7546

Service hours:  Open everyday from 11:00am till the second döner finishes around 10.00-11.00pm

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